Frugal Friday - Week 33 of 52
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| Flowers in our garden this year, end of May 2018. |
I fell off a ladder right after Summer Session was over (early July) and broke my left foot, so I have been in an immobilizing boot and using crutches since then. That has really put a damper on the plans for summer - we had hoped to do a major cosmetic remodeling on the main level of our home. We did get a few things done in spite of the broken foot and will hopefully get the rest finished before class starts. I get the boot off today and should be able to do more, though I will need to be careful for a few more weeks. It has healed well and I am grateful!
Here are the frugal things we managed to do this last week:
* We made soup, bread, no-bake energy bites, pizza and granola at home this week.
* We enjoyed another bonfire in our new fire pit using the wood from our yard.
* I spent two days at work preparing for the new school year. We don't start until after Labor Day in September, so I still have a couple of weeks to finishing preparing. Our start date is September 4.
* My husband laid grass seed on several parts of the lawn. We are working slowly and meticulously to remove the Creeping Charlie from our lawn, and need to seed the patches with grass so the Charlie doesn't return. It would have been easier and nicer to have a lawn service remove the entire top layer of the yard and replace it with sod, but this was far, far less expensive. We are hoping to have the west side yard and the back yard completed by the time frost hits (late October or early November typically). Last year we did the east side yard as an experiment and it turned out really well!
* I picked white phlox, dark purple pincushions and pink four-o-clocks for a bouquet on our kitchen table.
* We cleaned out and reorganized the children's closets. The closets have adjustable rods and shelves so we rearranged things to make them much more usable for the children at their current size.
* We donated a large pile of outgrown uniforms to the school's uniform exchange. We only selected one skirt for our daughter in return - it is our children's last year at this school and they have plenty of uniforms so this was all we needed. We are allowed to take as many items as we drop off - we could have chosen many more items!
* I pulled 35 gallon pails of weeds from the garden and the children laid mulch in the beds. I *think* I'm caught up - we'll see what the weather does. The rain this year means we have had a lot of weeds and some of my annuals are HUGE compared to "normal". I won't even go into the volume of mosquitoes, though! It is rather astounding.
* We picked green beans, lettuce, peas, tomatoes, a pepper, acorn squash, basil, and rhubarb from the garden this week.
* We purchased bananas and blueberries on clearance and froze them for later use.
* I blanched and froze green beans, broccoli and carrots for later use. I also froze diced peppers for later use.
* John brought home several canning jars from a friend at work - I am planning on canning several things this year rather than freezing, as we will need the freezer for other things.
* Several years ago, we did a major freezer cooking session before Fall Semester (Term). It was wonderful and I have no idea why we never did it again! This year we decided to do another freezer cooking session - mostly prepping Crock Pot meals and stir fry items and then freezing before cooking. I put together a basic menu outline for September through December and realized I'd been overthinking things for SO long! It's been really liberating! And it should make meals so much easier this fall.
* I purchased yarn on sale to knit a sweater (jumper) for our son. I have basic knitting knowledge but have never tired this before. I'm looking forward to it! If nothing else, he can wear is at home.
* I spent quite a bit of time working on sewing and embroidery for Christmas gifts. My little stash is growing nicely and I'm looking forward to reducing our typical Christmas spending because of it.
What did you do this week? I'd love to hear!
